Bakers may seek audience with DTI on higher costs

Watch more in iWantv or TFC.tv MANILA — Bakery owners, under pressure from rising sugar prices, said Thursday they were considering asking the Department of Trade and Industry to review their pricing. Sugar prices, however, had risen 40 percent from last year, said Philippine Federation of Bakers spokesman Chito Chavez told DZMM. “Ang pandesal at loaf bread, ay pag-uusapan kung idudulog namin sa trade and industry para tingnan o repasuhin ang costing namin.,” he said. (We are discussing whether we should seek the help of the Department of Trade and Industry to check or revise our costing.) Higher bread prices loom amid excise taxes Flour prices are also a concern, he said. “Kung ito po ay gagalaw o tataas, talagang hndi mapipigilan ang pagtaas ng presyong ating produktong ginagawa,” Chavez said. (If this moves, we cannot stop price increase for our products.) Chavez said prices of “Pinoy Tasty” and “Pinoy Pandesal,” that the big companies subsidize, would likely remain the same. The DTI has imposed a suggested retail price of P35 per 450 grams of “Pinoy Tasty” loaf bread and P21.50 per 10-piece pack of “Pinoy Pan de Sal,” according to an advisory on its website. Inflation accelerated to 5.2 percent in June mainly due to the 6.1 percent increase in prices of food and non-alcoholic drinks, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed.